Viper
by Teafully
Summary: "You've been reduced to the life of crime, haven't you, Viper?" I laughed as my beloved pet coiled his way around my unlucky victim's neck. "Reduced is not the proper terminology," I murmured before listening to his muffled screams. "I prefer the word… seduced." Rated T-M. Reincarnated!Fem!Viper/Mammon. AU
1. The Death of Me

Yes, I know. A new story, not a good idea, Tea-san. I know. Plot bunnies got me and I apologize.

I thought of this story and I kinda just… yeah.

I'm SI-ing a number of people into one because I had this idea while talking to my friends on the phone.

I'll attempt to be funny, but I know that I'm not. There's no laughing in the first chapter, though; we have to get the boring stuff over with.

~And so our story begins~

* * *

Chapter 1: The Death of Me

I kicked a rock down the street, staring at it as it hopped into a crack between the sidewalk.

_Expelled again._

This was the third time I'd been expelled from a school this year, each time because of my failure to 'comply with the rules'.

_Who said that arson was against the rules?_

Well, then again, arson was against _everyone's _rules, but that was beside the point. I had gotten expelled _again_, but I was sure my mother could have cared less. As mentally damaging as that was, it was also strengthening.

Some kids don't even like to go home because they're afraid of what their parents would do to them if they get bad grades on a test or something, but I know all I'm going to get is a slap on the wrist.

_With my brother in jail and my father left and never came back; she's got other things to worry about._

Counselors have tried _everything_; therapists had quit their jobs in the wake of my psyche… I had done everything I could to stay out of juvenile detention centers and mental hospitals because there was nothing _wrong_ with me.

A sign that I passed every day, with its faded lettering jumped out at me from my position on the worn sidewalk.

_Free Peanuts!_

The arrow pointed to a gas station that I walked by every day, where I stopped to talk to the locals. They appreciated my presence, under my spell that I was no type of thug, but I was a thug that they had never encountered before.

Someone who took their money by asking and giving an innocent excuse behind why I needed it.

I walked in, touching my pale hands to the dirty door and wiping them on my dirty jeans. My purple hair brightened in the artificial light and I watched Ol' Doug look at me from the counter.

"Heya, Mary! I saw you comin' down the street, so I got you some peanuts 'cause I know you like 'em."

His breath smelled of cigarettes and alcohol, and I suspected that he just got off of his lunch break.

"Wow, thanks, Douggie." I let my voice carry as he handed me the paper bag full of peanuts and I took them gratefully before turning back. "You got any money? My mom's got trouble paying the bills this time."

"Not this time. I spent it all on my medication."

_He means beer._

I rolled my eyes at that and began to walk out of the store as a little old lady brought up her purchases.

_He might know my plan. _

If he found out that I took his money and put it into my room for an 'emergency', then I don't think that I would get as much as I usually did.

Normally from 'ol Doug, he'd slip me a couple of bucks just because he donated to me so often, and from the other frequenters I would get about the same. If I was lucky, I would make a maximum of fifteen dollars a day.

I watched all of the cars pass as rush hour commenced, backing up traffic for what seemed like miles. I could see how bad it was as I got onto my street, watching bugs flutter by. It was mid-April and school was only two months from getting out.

_If only I had a school to go to. Maybe then I'd be stressed about finals or something._

Xx

I walked into the door to hear my distorted mother on the phone. I ignored it and slowly slunk to my room in our one-story home.

"How am I going to tell her that I got expelled again?"

* * *

I waited for her to get off of the phone, but I soon got tired and ventured outside, walking past her just as she started screaming into the phone.

_Not my problem._

I decided subconsciously that I would walk back to the gas station and maybe catch a drink with ol' Doug and his friends.

What I didn't know was that that was the last time that I would ever see my house.

Along the beaten path of deadbeats and others who quietly suffered, I travelled down the street.

_Maybe I should ask for more money and say that I got kicked out. She wouldn't notice if I left; if anything, she'd be happy that I disappeared. She'd have less money to spend._

My ill-tempered thoughts stalled when I watched ol' Doug from afar, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and walking to his red pickup truck.

_Maybe I could-_

I looked both ways before crossing the street, adjusting my hoodie and crossing quickly. The red pickup with its numerous scratches and dents.

I approached it and watched ol' Doug smoke and lay down as I snuck into the store, closing the door behind me.

The cash register was in sight.

My thoughts crowded my head. Both my conscience and my mind battled each other. It is wrong to outright steal, but I wanted the money.

_It will help me and her out in the long run. We can be happier if I can just steal a couple hundred-_

"What do you think you're doing?"

A lady had spotted me reaching my hand into the gray cash register, and I had no time to explain. Due to ol' Doug, I had known where he kept the keys, so I took them. I had immediately started helping myself to the cash and began stuffing it into my pockets.

_Ignore the woman. I need this money. She's got everything in the world that she wants. I need this money._

I continuously stuffed money into my pockets and I subconsciously noticed the woman pulling her phone out to dial a certain help-line, and I hurried up, attempting to walk out of the store.

"Thief! Come back!"

A masculine voice shouted after me as I attempted to bolt out of the door. Ol' Doug didn't see me or even open his eyes inside of his truck as I sped around the blue gas pumps and the cars, looking for a way out.

_No police cars have appeared yet. They're not_ _going to arrest me yet. I've got time._

I'm not exactly a runner, or even an athlete at that, but I managed to get to the street in no time at all, with two unfit men running after me, it was easy.

Maye I'd be able to make it to my house from here.

_I've got time._

I looked both ways and started to cross, but that's when I felt pain. A sharp, swift, undeniable pain that engulfed my entire body.

_The road was clear! I had a clear shot to the other side of the road!_

If that was so, how the _hell_ did I get hit?

* * *

I sat in complete silence as I recognized angry, incoherent voices. I hadn't been hit on accident, that was what I had guessed for sure, but soon, my feelings faded away.

I could feel no more, I could see no more, and my hearing had worn down to mute.

It felt like more than a few minutes, maybe even hours, when I started to realize what had happened to me.

_I am dead._

* * *

_Dead?_

I floated in this darkness for a long moment, looking around. I refused to believe that I was actually _dead_.

_This isn't another bad trip or something, is it?_

I had seen nothing but darkness before, last time accompanied by pain, but this time I felt absolutely nothing.

_**Greed.**_

I heard the word, but nothing appeared. Greed?

_**You are greedy and that is why you have died. Your greed and lust for money has crippled you and sealed your fate.**_

_Fate? _

"What are you talking about? I'm fixing to wake up and get my rightfully earned money."

_**It was stolen. For this act of impurity, you will be assigned to live another life. A life in which all of your greed will be subjected.**_

"So, what you're saying is… I'll be rich?"

I asked, feeling anticipation shake me. The thought of dying was really unnerving and I was still sure that this was a bad trip, but… _money._

_**However, you only have one task to fulfil at the price of all of your previous memories.**_

"What would that be?" I asked, letting the sensation of feeling flow freely through me.

_**Your task is to find true happiness.**_

* * *

I opened my eyes to be met with a dark, confined space. _Happiness? What the hell did that mean?_

I tried to remember where I was and what I was doing, but nothing came up. It was like I was brain-dead but still allowed to move.

On impulse, I hit the top of the confined space that I was in, and it flapped open and then shut. I pushed on it harder, letting my arms push as hard as they could, and the lid flipped open.

The coffin that I had been in had been unlocked and unearthed.

I was free.

_Who am I?_

I stood up and dusted myself off, looking down at my small, pale hands.

_Where am I?_

The unfamiliar surroundings bothered me; I was in a cemetery, obviously, but it was unlike any that I had seen before.

The stones looked centuries old and the air smelled of rain and soggy grass, much unlike only moments before.

_Why… can't I remember anything?_

I stared at my hands, watching them stretch and retract as I gained feeling in them after climbing out of my half-dug grave.

In a moment, I realized that there was one sole reason why I existed.

There was one thing that I needed more than anything else.

The reason that I had been given a second chance.

The meaning behind happiness and sadness; the separation between success and failure.

_Money._

* * *

Kind of sudden and short, so I apologize. I'm on vacation and I probably shouldn't be writing at all, but here I am… x.x

Well, was that good or bad? I'm personally not too sure. Feel free to tell me what you think! I'll answer your reviews by PM (unless you're a guest…)

**This is a side-story, so updates will not be often… I think.**

Don't forget to follow, favorite, and leave me a review because, I'll admit that it _kinda_ boosts my self-esteem. :3

~Teafully~


	2. Missing Identity

Wow, I did _not_ expect this good of a reception for this story! You guys are awesome, and it was only chapter one! Geez! (and I don't think the first chapter was even my best work!)

I mean, 8 reviews, 28 favorites and 34 follows… that's _gotta_ be a new record!

~Song of the Caged Bird~

* * *

_Flashback:_

_In a moment, I realized that there was one sole reason why I existed._

_There was one thing that I needed more than anything else._

_The reason that I had been given a second chance._

_The meaning behind happiness and sadness; the separation between success and failure._

_Money._

Chapter 2: Missing Identity

It wasn't long before some idiot decided that it was really freaky to see some kid in a silly cloak, laying down in a cemetery. An old man came shambling toward me.

"Hey, kid! What do you think you're doing?"

I looked up to see his wrinkled and worn face, and he must have been well in his seventies. His pants were dirty and his hands were worn, and I connected the pieces together:

_Must be the guy who takes care of the dead people. Not that they would need any taking care of, I hope._

"I've just escaped from my tomb." I attempted to scare him, but the man only gave me an exasperated look. "Like hell you have! Your clothes are torn and a mess and all of your fingernails are broken! What kinda parents you got, kid, letting you walk around scaring people with your hood up like that?"

I looked down at my small body to see my clothes ripped and torn. I looked like an abandoned paper bag, for Christ's sake. The hood on my head felt thin; like it wasn't even there, so I needn't bother to take it off.

"What's a little kid like you doing in a place like this, anyway? Your parents must be worried sick; and with all of the crime skyrocketing…"

"Crime?" My eyes sparkled with interest as I stood up, hardly batting an eye at how the dirt that I was covered in slid off of my cloak and back onto the ground. "What kinda crime are you talking about?"

The man gave me a weary look. "You're too young to know! Look at yourself; you must be hardly even fifteen!"

"The hell are you talking about? Fifteen year olds know about everything from strippers to condoms and even how to catch somebody from behind… maybe even how to hide a body. You're here telling me that I'm not allowed to know what kinda crime's going on?"

The old man's face scrunched up and he wiped his forehead with his already-worn shirt.

"Don't get smart. Respect your elders!"

I huffed, bringing my hand up to my face to wipe it.

"I'm not being 'smart'. I don't respect people who don't respect me. Just because you _feel_ entitled to something doesn't mean that you _are_."

I half-expected the old man to get angry with me and call me something under the term "spoiled brat", but he only gave me a stern glare with the icy eyes of his. The wrinkles underneath his eyes seemed to increase in number and he shrugged.

"Unless you want to stay out here, girl, then you follow me. I think I have a place where you can stay."

"The hell's he askin' me for?" I grumbled to myself, but I only received another glare back.

_He heard me…_

* * *

"Make yourself at home, but don't touch a thing."

I rolled my eyes. The thirty minute trek from the ominous graveyard to a shack that could probably hardly fit one person inside didn't even seem worth it now. I was drooping from the effort.

"You're expecting me to fit in there with you? Crazy ol' man." I asked, snorting just a little bit.

The man shambled ahead, hardly looking back at me. "Do you want to stay out here, then? I'm not going to take responsibility for you when you get eaten by coyotes and bears."

Now that he mentioned it, I shivered as the sun was beginning to set. The outlook on the situation that I was in was beginning to get dull and freaky, so I swallowed my pride and followed him inside.

I was welcomed to the warmest setting that I could imagine: there were animal skins throughout the walls and the ground, and there was a wonderful stone fireplace surrounded by worn chairs.

_If he's the only one here, why does he need multiple pieces of furniture?_

"Stove's on…" The old man huffed as he hurried into the miniscule kitchen, turning some dials and he left me to my own devices.

My bare feet touched the skin of what I assumed to be a bear and I cringed at how tough it was, but I walked across the room to the fireplace. The stone was surprisingly flat as I ran my hand over it, and whatever wood was still inside of it was merely reduced to black ashes.

"Hmm… what's your name, little one?"

The old man had come up behind me and leaned against a cane that he picked up next to a nearby recliner. His posture looked as though it was beginning to take a turn for the worst as I shrugged.

"I suppose I don't have one. What about you; I heard that it was polite to give your name before asking for someone else's."

"Everyone just calls me Hiro. That's all that you need to know, nosy one." I wrinkled my nose and watched him attempt to remove the hood from my head. "What have you got to hide?"

I smacked him away, pulling my hood farther over my head.

"Quit it! What's your damage? Geez!"

Hiro only smiled at me and pointed to a makeshift door. "Go clean yourself up; we're about to have supper."

"Which is composed of…?"

"Squirrel. I caught it earlier today, so it's pretty fresh."

* * *

I stared at myself in the small, cracked mirror and watched as a spider inched closer to my reflection.

My eyes… they were so… different. They were dark and lifeless, but when shown in the light, I could see the faint blue hue inside of them.

I thought that the upside-down purple triangles had been drawn onto my face or something, but they were tattoos. Imprinted inside of my skin, they stood out against my fairly pale skin.

"Weird."

I muttered, playing with my deep purple hair. It had a very silk feel to it and I basked in it for a moment before the man came in and stared at me, bewilderingly.

"Yo, old man, how's dinner comin' along?" I asked as I stepped out of the small bathroom and back into his cozy living room.

Hiro turned to me and the smell of cooking meat filled the room.

"Get some manners-"

He stopped mid-sentence as he glanced at me, and I realized that I had never pulled my hood back up. Hiro struggled to turn off the stovetop where the squirrel was cooking, and when he finally did, he came up to inspect me further.

"I've seen you before. In the news."

* * *

I watched Hiro clumsily search around in multiple drawers for the supposed newspaper that he had seen me in. His hands flailed and he knocked multiple books off of a nearby shelf and onto the floor.

"It's gotta be you! They've been searching for you for weeks, and there's even a bounty on your head!"

"Don't be daft," I snapped, putting the hood back over my head. "There's no way anybody's looking for someone like me, you crazy ol' geezer!"

"Here!" A bent and nearly-torn newspaper flew out of the cabinet that he searched. "Here it is! You're front-page news!"

I picked up the newspaper doubtfully. "Are you sure it was me, not some other punk-kid with a sailor's mouth?"

"It has to be you. I'd stake my life on it."

"Of _course_ you would," I retorted, reluctant to look at it in the first place. "Your life's almost over!"

When I finally brought the paper to my face so I could read it, it was obvious that the person pictured on the front of this paper was _me_. They honed the same tattoos and cloak, not to mention the shape of my jaw.

"See? You've got a bounty on your head for your safe return to people claiming to be your friends! To think you've been hiding out in the graveyard the whole time… and you even have-"

I tuned out and started reading this paper, noticing that the date read _June 24__th__, 20XX._ I frowned; it couldn't be that late into summer… if it was even summer at all. It had to be autumn at best.

"What's today's date, old man?" I looked up to see Hiro turning the stove back on, whistling a joyful tune.

"Who would have known that my kindness would finally pay off one day?~" Hiro shrugged in response to my question after I growled at him for it, tapping his chin gently with his bare hand. "Last time I checked, it had to have been mid-September. That was the date on the newest grave installed, which couldn't have been no more than a week ago."

_Close enough._

I stared at my picture and the caption:

_Esper Mammon (also goes by Viper) is approximately 5'0 ft. tall (152 cm) and has been missing for a total of thirty days. Little is known about her and her last-known location was at a bar on Mildred Avenue. _

"Hmm…" I glanced around the paper, skipping the commentary until I found an address that I was supposed to be taken to if I was found, rather than calling the police.

_That's odd… I'm not even sure if that's legal._

"Oldie, mind taking me down to this address? That's where you've gotta go if you want to collect that bounty on my head."

I supposed that he was only in it for the money. Not that there was much to do with it at his point in life. I half-wished that he would give _me_ the money, but he had found me fair and square.

_I could steal some of it from him… I could take it right out of his hands, or even ask for a handout. Getting my hands on some of that… _

It made my mouth nearly water at all of the things that I could do with the money that was on my head. Twenty-five thousand. Do you have _any_ idea how much that is? I might be able to buy myself a place to stay for that much (given that it'd be a pretty shitty place) but I wouldn't need to stay with some old man who eats squirrel.

_I hope._

"Oh, that? Hmm… alright, then. I could take you there now, if you want. I can just put the squirrel back in the fridge."

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Will we have to _walk_ there?"

"I have a truck, nosey one. Well, now that I know your name, what do you prefer to be called?"

_Hell's he talkin' about? _

It took a moment to get through my thick skull, but when it did, I glanced back at the newspaper that had identified me.

"Um… I suppose you can just call me Viper if you must."

_That's a cool name... snakes freak people out. If I was approaching someone with my name, I think I'd be at least a little intimidated._

I groaned and moaned until Hiro finally put his damned squirrel in his small, disgusting fridge and finally I was able to leap into his gigantic, rusty truck. The seats were torn and the foam was spilling out of them, not to mention there was a dead wasp on the ground.

"Here's the address."

I handed over the newspaper, and he held it up close to his face just so he could read it.

"Hmm!" Hiro grunted before starting up the truck and handing the newspaper back to me. "Your friends must be high-rolling if they're to live up there. That address is probably one of the mansions on that Avenue."

I narrowed my eyes as I swung back and forth in the truck, struggling to put my seatbelt on.

_A mansion. I'm not sure what that means, but it's either a very good thing or a very bad thing. I just can't wait to find out and get away from this dirtbag._

I casted a sideways-glance at Hiro, who smiled jollily. He had to have been in it only for the money.

_I guess we'll find out when we get there._

* * *

It was roughly a 45-minute drive to this supposed mansion, but I was in awe when I spotted it. It had to have been nearly the size of a college campus, with all of the marble and the huge gates.

We finally got through all of this security, and Hiro gave me a brief smile.

"I'm glad that I found you. I'm sure your friends were very worried about you; you've been missing for quite a long time."

"Oh, please." I waved him away, giving away a light smile. "You're only happy because they're giving money out for my 'safe return'. If I wasn't worth so much, you probably wouldn't have even looked twice."

"Not with _your_ attitude."

We stood at the front of this mansion, and were escorted in by a tall man who led us through spiraling hallways adorned with paintings and spotless floors. He didn't even speak to us (which I thought was kind of rude) until we reached a large door that reached for the ceilings.

"We will determine if you are who you say you are, and if everything checks out, the money is yours."

Hiro smiled and nodded. "I'm certain it's her."

I was still doubtful, no matter whose picture was in the front of the stupid newspaper that I still held.

The man, who wore an odd uniform, and I gave him a semi-polite nod as he opened the doors for us.

Multiple men sat at what looked like a conference table, talking to each other in calm voices until Hiro and I entered the room.

"Ushishishi, is that who I think it is~?"

* * *

I'm not too sure about this semi-cliffie…

I'll hopefully make the next chapter pretty long; I've got some stuff planned :3

If you can't already tell, this is sort of an AU (so don't rage that 'omg this isn't following canon' because it kinda isn't supposed to xD)

You know, this might turn into my primary side-story (replacing Evelyn). I'm really starting to like the way this one is going.

Don't forget to favorite/follow/review! It really means a lot to me! :D

Also, I started yet another SI!OC story (I know… "get a life, Tea-san"), but this one is to be quite different, considering that it's for Yamamoto. Check out **Tranquility**! :D

~Teafully~


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